THE JOY OF NEEDLEWORK

Sunday, May 30, 2010

WHAT FABRICS ARE GOOD FOR PUNCH NEEDLE

This question has been asked of me many times. Even thou I have read anumber of articles it has been very vague as to the names of those fabrics. And thus I went on the search for myself to see what fabrics I could find and use as suitable punch needle materials.

Results1. Weavers Cloth ; very good

2. Muslin Cloth: This fabric comes in different thread count, the high the count the nicer the results was. But still leaves holes and you can not punch over but one time, anymore then that it will not accept the thread as nicely.

3. Broad Cloth: About the same as above.

4. Wool: Coat weight and Suit weight: This was a challenge as the thread count can very. What you will need to do to use wool fabric, is to us a good tightly woven fabric iron on Pellon. Draw your design onto the Pellon and Iron it to the backside of the wool. It is a little difficult to keep the wool tight in a hoop, but works wonderful on a rug hooking frame. I made several projects using this method and both turned out very nice.

WOOL CD CASE PROJECT

COTTON VELEVET SEWING BASKET PROJECT

5. Cotton Velvet again the thread count (how many threds and how closely the threads are woven together) as you can see the CD/bird is on light colored wool. However, I still had to use the Iron on fabric Pellong. The sewing basket is made of Cotton Velvet and on a dark back ground and it was also created in the same manner.

6. Corduroy / Cotton nice if the thread count is suitable and the fabric iron on Pellon is required as well.

7. The best of the best in my humble opinion is 100 percent linen. It is the most user friendly of all the fabrics I have tried to date. You can use this fabric in a locking hoop or rug hooking frame.

The above is only a small portion of the fabric I have tried and used.

The bottom line is the size of the punch needle tip, and thread size/ weight / strands you plan on using will depend of the thread count of the fabric you would choose for your project. What one might do is purchase or ask for small samples and try the punch needle tip and thread on the fabric samples. Each project is different and will require a little sampling before hand.

Yesterday I finished a design and now getting ready to sew it together. I think this linen has made a wonderful project.